Elia Viviani sprints to Stage 2 win as Rohan Dennis takes pink – Giro d’Italia
Giro d’Italia 2018
Stage 2
In a chaotic conclusion to the 167km stage in Israel, Italy’s Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) darted onto the wheel of compatriot Jakub Mareczko (Wilier-Triestina) before rounding the pint-sized sprinter to win by a bike length.
Australian Dennis (BMC) made up for his disappointment in losing Friday’s opening time trial by two slender seconds to Team Sunweb’s Dumoulin by winning the second intermediate sprint and moving one second clear of the Dutchman in the general classification.
Dennis becomes only the fourth active rider to wear the leader’s jersey of each of cycling’s Grand Tours – after Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Italians Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali. The 27-year-old also became the 23rd rider in history to have led the Giro, Tour de France and La Vuelta.
While Dennis perhaps benefited from a little good will on the part of Viviani in the intermediate sprint, the Italian gave no favours in the finale – despite being made to sweat on what was ultimately a comfortable win.
Badly positioned going into the frantic final kilometre, Viviani had his work cut out to get back into the frame before unleashing his raw power and superior speed to secure Quick-Step’s 28th win of the season – and his first in the Giro since 2015.
Viviani, 29, secured the maglia ciclamino by soaring to the top of the points classification – and also made history by becoming the first rider to win a stage of the Giro while using disc brakes.
For youngster Mareczko, it was yet another second place: the 24-year-old with the distinctive forward-tucked sprinting style finished runner-up twice in last year’s Giro.
Mareczko held off Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) while Italians Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain Merida) and Sacha Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac) completed the top five.
Another Italian, Enrico Barbin of Bardiani-CSF, secured the first blue king of the mountains jersey of the 101st edition of the race after picking his way through the crowds to crest the summit of the only categorised climb of the day in pole position.
An active start to the first road stage of the 2018 Giro d’Italia saw the race’s two Israeli riders – Guy Niv and Guy Sagiv – both try their luck to get into the break. But it was left to their Israeli Cycling Academy team-mate Guillaume Boivin to make the difference after the Canadian managed to join early escapees Manuel Belletti (Androni-Sidermec) and Lars Bak (Lotto-FixAll) on the front of the race.
Viviani was led out for the maximum remaining points in fourth place at the first intermediate sprint at Acres after 22km before the pace slowed in the pack and the leading trio saw their advantage creep over the three-minute mark.
But on a long uphill slog into a fierce headwind the gap came tumbling down ahead of the fourth-category climb to Zikhron Ya’aqov. With the leaders barely a handful of seconds ahead, Barbin attacked from the peloton to get in the mix just as numerous fans flocked onto the road.
Boivin looked to reward the host wildcard team for their persistence with the inaugural maglia azzurra but a late attack from Barbin – emerging through the throng of running spectators – saw the Italian take the spoils.
The race came back together after a fast descent as the BMC team-mates of Dennis rallied together in a bid to secure the virtual pink jersey for the Australian.
Dennis then did his part after expertly holding off Viviani in the second intermediate sprint at Caesarea with 62km remaining – although he later played down suggestions that he was in possession of a faster kick than the Quick-Step maestro.
“I think Viviani – to be honest – sprinted, but didn’t go full gas. It was good to see him get the stage win at the end,” the new race leader admitted after praising his team-mates for their hard work.
“Today the team rode for me for the last 30km into the intermediate sprint and led me out perfectly. They then made sure I didn’t miss out on any splits at the end.”
Belgian Victor Campenaerts – who was level on time with Dennis going into the stage – attacked following the sprint but perhaps more in frustration than anything else. After a brief cameo off the front as the race hugged the Mediterranean coast, the Lotto-Fix All rider was swallowed back by the peloton – paving the way for another counter attack by the gutsy Boivin.
Having given the Israeli Cycling Academy some extra TV time, Boivin was swept up with 16km remaining as the teams of the sprinters jostled for position on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
It was a scrappy and tense finale to the stage with Viviani boxed back and the LottoNL-Jumbo team-mates of Danny van Poppel in a strong position entering the final kilometre.
But in the end it was Viviani who showed his class – and pure speed – while Van Poppel faded to take only 15th place. Proof, perhaps, that if you don’t have it in your legs then no end of leg-work from your team will make any difference.
After crashing in training on Friday and conceding 37 seconds to the defending champion Dumoulin, it was a quiet and routine day for Team Sky’s Chris Froome in his bid to win his first Giro and complete a Grand Slam of Grand Tours.
If the British rider finished safely in the pack, the same cannot be said for team-mate Wout Poels after a late puncture saw the Dutchman come home 40 seconds down. There was even worse luck for a third Sky rider, Kenny Elissonde, who finished in last place, 3’37” in arrears.
With Dennis in pink, Viviani in ciclamino and Barbin in blue, the race continues on Sunday with the third instalment of the Israeli grande partenza: a lumpy 229km ride from Be’er Sheva to Eilat, where another bunch finish is expected to decide matters.
In this form, who would bet against Viviani making it two?
